Milo Manara Archives - Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is L’odissea di Bergman/L’odyssée de Giuseppe Bergman (Bergman’s Odyssey), which was published in 2004 (I can’t find where it originally appeared, but it was published in both France and Italy). These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (For the last time – at least with regard to Manara – I have to place a Not Safe For Work warning here.)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Revoir les étoiles (To See Once More the Stars), which was published in À Suivre magazine in 1997. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (Once again, I have to hit you with a Not Safe For Work warning. HERE IT IS!!!!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Viaggio a Tulun* (Trip to Tulum), which was published in Corto Maltese magazine in 1989. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 3, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated August 2012. Enjoy! (And, in case you’re curious, there’s some Not Safe For Work nudity under the cut. Stay away, prudes!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Les Nouvelles Aventures de Giuseppe Bergman (published in English as The African Adventures of Giuseppe Bergman, Books 1 and 2), which were published in À Suivre magazine in 1980/1981. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (And yes, there’s nekkid stuff below the cut, so here’s your warning!!!!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Lo Scimmiotto (“The Young Ape”), which was published in Alterlinus magazine in 1976-1977. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 3, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated August 2012. Enjoy! (And yes, there’s some nekkidness below the cut. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!)Continue Reading »

So, much to everyone’s shock (I’m guessing), I have very little problem with the Milo Manara Spider-Woman #1 variant cover. Surprising to nobody, I do have some issues with the information we have thus far for the forthcoming Spider-Woman book.

So let’s get into it.

Milo Manara is a well-known creator/writer/artist primarily of porn and erotica, perhaps mostly notably a series called Click! (which, full disclosure, I own). So, when you hire Milo Manara to draw a variant, you are hiring him to get a very specific thing: titillating erotic imagery that is at the very least reminiscent of porn and generally of women.

This is exactly what he delivered. It seems ridiculous to criticize Manara for delivering exactly what he does and what was surely expected of him. Though his response to the Spider-Woman cover controversy is depressing and predictable it’s not particularly surprising. Yes, it’s practically a bingo card of alarming statements we see all the time when people try justify portrayals of women in media: the “there’s other ‘real’ problems in the world to worry about” “all superheroes are basically naked with colors on them anyway” “women are just built this way, I draw what I see” “it’s not my fault this how women are/look” “women wear less than this/are more provocative than this in real life” etc. and of course the artist describing the character/his work as “beautiful, nice, attractive, seductive” all of which have to do only with how Spider-Woman looks to him/should look to him and nothing to do with who she is or what she does. Pretty depressing stuff.

But again, as sad as it is to hear these statements, this is a European (Manara is Italian) man that draws Erotica for a living and has for decades. None of this is terribly surprising and anyone surprised by it is not paying attention. The question shouldn’t be why does Manara draw a Spider-Woman that looks more like a porn star than a superhero, the question also shouldn’t be why didn’t Marvel send Manara back to the drawing board when he turned in his work. The question should be why is this what Marvel wanted in the first place?

Last month, I didn’t get a chance to finish all of these before I went to the convention in Seattle, and then I was busy when I got back. So this month, we get a double dose of trades and books I’ve read and such. That means this is really long, and I apologize for that!Continue Reading »

As I’m getting more and more things in trade these days and many of those don’t come out very quickly, I often miss titles that everyone is raving about for my year-end lists (see: Daredevil). So I’ve decided to do a post every month about the various trade paperbacks I got in the month. I’ve also included editions of things that may be from an earlier year but which I didn’t get until now or which have been re-released, and some other stuff, too. I’m still going to review new graphic novels individually, but this is for anything that doesn’t fall into that category. Sound good? Great. Let’s check some stuff out!Continue Reading »